§2A3.3 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit Such Acts: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 11 people were sentenced under guideline §2A3.3, "Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit Such Acts; Criminal Sexual Abuse of an Individual in Federal Custody." 8 of the 11 (73%) received prison, with a median of 12.5 months, and 5 sentences (45%) were below the gui
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2A3.3 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit › §2A3.3: FY2025
In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 11 people were sentenced under guideline §2A3.3, "Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit Such Acts; Criminal Sexual Abuse of an Individual in Federal Custody." 8 of the 11 (73%) received prison, with a median of 12.5 months, and 5 sentences (45%) were below the guideline range without a government request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 11 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Sentences Below the Range Without a Government Request
5 of the 11 sentences (45%) were below the guideline range without a government request. 2 (18%) were within the range, 2 (18%) were below it at the government's request, and 2 (18%) were above it.
Within-range sentences were less common than the 43% for all years under this guideline and the 51% for all guidelines in fiscal year 2025.
Prison and Probation
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 11 people in fiscal year 2025 whose primary guideline was §2A3.3. 8 (73%) received a prison term, and 3 (27%) received probation only.
The median prison term was 12.5 months. A quarter received 35.2 months or more, and a quarter received 10.5 months or less. The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 is 15 months, and the share sent to prison across those years is 82%.
Guilty Pleas and Mandatory Minimums
11 of the 11 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Every plea had a written plea agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 11 people. The all-years guilty plea rate is 92%, and the rate for all guidelines in fiscal year 2025 was 98%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
8 people (73%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 60 months, and 1 person (9%) received supervised release for life.
A fine was ordered for 2 people (18%), and restitution for 1 person (9%). 91% were in the lowest criminal history category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI.
The Year in the Yearly Table
The table lists each fiscal year from 2016 to 2025. Fiscal year 2025, with 11 people, is the second-largest group, after the 12 people in fiscal year 2016. Fiscal year 2024 had 7 people and a median of 15 months. Fiscal year 2016 had a median of 17 months, and fiscal year 2022 had a median of 33 months. The 12.5 months in fiscal year 2025 is lower than both of those years and lower than the all-years median of 15 months.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2025, 66,662 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 24 months. The §2A3.3 median was lower. Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, and the Commission files these cases under the offense type Sexual Abuse.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 12 | 17 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 6 | 14.5 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2018 | 6 | 13 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2019 | 6 | 24 months | 5 of 6 |
| 2020 | 2 | 12 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2021 | 2 | 13.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 6 | 33 months | 5 of 6 |
| 2023 | 3 | 15 months | 1 of 3 |
| 2024 | 7 | 15 months | 6 of 7 |
| 2025 | 11 | 12.5 months | 100% |
Limits of the Data
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers appear here.
The records count only people who were convicted and sentenced. They do not describe individual cases, and one year with 11 people is not a trend. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A3.3 (11), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2A3.3 Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit Such Acts: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.